St. Landry democrat., 1887-02-12

In times when signs were in general
use by all tradesmen, twas only natur-
al that each man should endeavor to
Guido his ncighbors in the obtrusive-
ness of his signboard. Those firms
who advertise on street hoardings do
precisely the same kind of thing at the
present day; each endeavors, by means
of brilliancy of color or novelty of de-
sign, to obtain, through his posters,
greater publicity for the wares he deals
in, and to attract more attention than
his neighbors. Just so, a century or
more ago, many ingenious devices
were made use of to force into notice
the signboards of those days. Some of
the boards were made of enormous
size; others were painted in far
ing colors; others bore strik-
ing or amusing objects, likely to be
remembered by those who saw them;
while others projected far out into the
street, or suspended within elaborate,
and often really ornamental, frame
works of iron. When each tradesman
thus endeavored to eclipse the sign
boards Of his neighbors, it may well be
imagined that Inconvenience was caused
to the general public. Complaints that
the size and prominence of the sign
boards prevented the access of sunlight
and the free circulation of the air in the
narrow London streets first began to
be heard, we are told, as early as the
beginning of the fifteenth century,
when an order was made to abate the
nuisance. In the course of time, how
ever, the evil grew again, till Charles
IL, in 1867, directed that no sign
boards were thereafter to hang across
the streets, but that they were to be
fixed against the sides of the houses.
Again, however, as years passed by,
the nuisance reappeared. In 1862, large
powers were once more granted,
and there was general and final
clearing away of the too obtrusive sign
boards Old prints and engravings of
the last century often give good idea
of the way in which the public streets,
both of London and other towns, were
once disfgured by these overgrown
sign-boards.
This general demolition in 1862 gave
a blow to the use of signboards from
which those evidences of past igno-
rance have never since recovered. But
had the conditions which first brought
them into existence remained the same,
there can be no doubt that the sign
boards would have again risen, phoenix
like, from their own ruins. Hap
PLY those conditions have not re-
manned the same. That knowledge
of reading and writing which during
the present century has become wide
spread among all classes, has, it may
be truly said, given a death-blow to
the universal use Of signs and to
the art Of the sign-painter. This,
to be sure, is not matter to |
call for regret on its own account; new
theless, the great decline in the use of
the old-fashioned pictorial signboards
is to be regretted for many reasons.
The signs our forefathers used have
as already pointed out-largely inter-
woven themselves with our history. In
losing them, we are losing one of the
well-known landmarks of the past.
The signs of the Woolpack and the
Golden Fleece, for instance, which are
still common in the Eastern counties,
are mementos of the time when the
wooden trade fourished in that part of
England. The sign Of the Coach and
Horses, still very frequent sign every
where, calls to mind the old coaching
DAYS. Our numerous Arms, our many
Lions, Bulls, Dragons. Bears and
Horses-red, blue, black, green or
xhite-and divers other strangely col
pred animals, most of which are quite
unknown to men Of science, are all !